Thursday, July 15, 2010
Media / News Bites / Politics / Clout City Mick Dumke Is Crossing the Street
Posted by Michael Miner on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 8:30 AM
Political writer Mick Dumke will leave the Reader next week and start work at the Chicago News Cooperative. This was a wrenching decision for Dumke, and it's a jolt to this newspaper. He's an awfully good reporter.
Dumke joined the Reader's staff in the fall of 2007, and he'd been freelancing for this paper for two years prior to that. He expects to be doing for CNC pretty much what he's been doing for us—covering local government, FOIAing documents and working the numbers, and running the occupational risk that Mayor Daley will ram a bayonet up his keister.
He's a longtime friend of Dan Mihalopoulos, the former Tribune City Hall reporter who now covers that beat for CNC. "We talked periodically," says Dumke. Those talks led to a conversation with managing editor Jim Kirk, a former Tribune business editor. No job was offered, but Kirk's interest was clear. "I told Jim point-blank I liked what I was doing and wasn't shopping around for another job," Dumke says.
Reader editor Alison True, who hired Dumke, was fired on June 25, and after that, he says, "the conversations intensified. I don’t want to get into the back-and-forth that much. In so far as it's relevant, I want to make it clear this is not some sort of protest. I really want to work with these guys."
Working in journalism these days involves a certain amount of choosing your poison. True's dismissal added a note of uncertainty to a job Dumke had already begun to wonder if he'd been doing long enough. The future's no more certain at CNC, which nine months in doesn't have much to show for itself but the four pages a week it produces for the regional edition of the New York Times and a promise that sooner or later it will unveil "an innovative news site dedicated to building communities through quality journalism." But cofounder and editor Jim O'Shea, a former Tribune managing editor, has assembled an impressive staff, its core consisting of Tribune refugees whose age and experience strongly suggest an old-school regard for substance.
"I was a fan of the Reader long before I came to work here," says Dumke, who's 39. "I was a fan of the Reader long before I was a journalist. I started reading it avidly when I was an undergrad at Northwestern in the early 90s. It was a thrill to get the chance to write for the Reader. I think we did some pretty good work. There were some things I missed and some things I screwed up, but I feel pretty good about it on the whole."
"Mick has worked to keep all eyes on the Reader as it pertains to journalistic excellence in the reporting of local political matters," publisher Alison Draper wrote me. Draper tried and failed to change Dumke's mind. "When Mick looked me in the eyes to confirm his decision to move over to CNC," she said, "I quickly saw in him that passion that makes him an exceptional reporter and an all-around great guy."
Jim Kirk emailed me, "We're looking for high-impact reporters to help us win readers, and Mick's work at the Reader demonstrated that he is among the best in the city. He immediately raises our game, especially when it comes to local political coverage."
Kirk's gain is our loss. But there's a silver lining ...
When Creative Loafing Inc., which bought the Reader three years ago this month, came out of bankruptcy last August, it came out controlled by Atalaya, a hedge fund that needed to round up some people who knew something about running newspapers. One of them was O'Shea, who joined the board, came around the Reader and kicked the tires, and got us a new publisher, James Warren, a former Tribune editor.
What most of us at the Reader did not know then, but would soon find out, was that O'Shea was working on something a lot more important to him than the Reader and Creative Loafing. This was the Chicago News Cooperative. Warren was also deeply involved in CNC. He was, and remains, its featured columnist.
The question of priorities was never an issue with O'Shea because his were clear. Besides, he was rarely around. Warren's priorities weren't as clear, and he was at the Reader every day. The editorial staff regarded CNC as competition and hesitated to speak openly in front of him. But Warren left the Reader in March, to be replaced by Draper; and when Kirk hired Dumke, O'Shea immediately resigned from the Creative Loafing board.
"When I hired Jim Kirk, I told him to go out and hire the best," O'Shea e-mailed me. "He decided to go after Mick. To me, that was a direct conflict and I decided I had to resign."
O'Shea went on, "I actually think there's some potential for partnerships between the CNC and the Reader and want to continue to explore possible collaboration. But I felt the right thing to do was to step down, as much as I regret not being able to devote my energies to helping an admirable organization."
This wasn't the first time I'd heard O'Shea raise the idea of the Reader and CNC collaborating. It's unclear to me how that might work. But if there is a way, O'Shea's resignation clears the air.
In this age of want, media of all sizes are looking for ways to pool their strengths, and if there are synergies to be had between the Reader and CNC, I'm for having them. "I hope I'm in the middle of trying to make that happen," says Dumke. But he'll be working for O'Shea, who's working only for CNC, and clarity is healthy.
Comments (16)
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"This was a wrenching decision for Dumke"
I doubt that it was all that tough, abandoning a sinking ship and all that.
A great loss for The Reader and for readers. A coup for the "CNC." I hope that they can fulfill their promises to Mick. I don't see where his stuff fits into the Our Semi-Weekly Reader insert in the NYT. But maybe they'll get those other "platforms" going.
The rats long ago abandoned this sinking ship.
Now pieces of the hull itself are slipping away.
-- MrJM
The Reader has a track record -- a good one. CNC, despite its staff and management, doesn't. I hope Dumke works there long enough to qualify for unemployment when/if CNC collapses from a lack of funds/readers/whatever.
"The future's no more certain at CNC, which nine months in doesn't have much to show for itself but the four pages a week it produces for the regional edition of the New York Times "
In my opinion, "no more certain" is an enormous understatement. I think the odds of CNC's failure is at least five times larger than the odds of the Reader needing to fold anytime soon. I do not understand the desire by so many big names in the Chicago journalistic community to jump ship and leave good jobs at longstanding publications to join the CNC. Dan Mihalopoulos left his position as the lead city hall reporter at the Tribune (I assume that is the most coveted reporting position in the city) to go to the CNC. David Griesling gave up a nice column on the front page of the business section. And now we have Mick Dumke. I think Mick Dumke is probably the best journalist in the city. This is quite a risk to leave a pretty stable position in which he has started to become a household name over the past year in order to join a news organization that could very likely be gone within twelve months. I do think that the possibility of the Reader failing has become much greater (though still I think unlikely) after this. I certainly hope that Alison Draper tried very hard to convince Dumke not to do this. I hope she offered a pay raise and mentioned that he was likely to eventually become the editor of the paper, for example.
Hopefully, whoever replaces Dumke will have at least a somewhat comparable desire to get to the bottom of complex issues, to insist on accountability and to aggressively call the elected officials to task when they are not making sense. We have seen this all in Dumke's excellent reporting about Daley's absurd handling of and nonsensical statements about the gun rights issue. And it is all the more impressive that Dumke is able to do this when he has said that he actually shares Daley's pro gun-control view. This type of comprehensive analytical reporting about a complex issue is in stark contrast to some other political reporting we have seen over the last few months at the Reader. For example, I think it is highly doubtful that Dumke would ever write an article for which the only purpose is to try to make an enormous case about the fact certain competitors will not explicitly say that they specifically rejected the idea of building a location at the proposed Wal-Mart on the south side. Nor would he write a lengthy article that quotes leaders of labor friendly organizations opposed to the Wal-Mart without making some effort to tell the story of who the people in these organizations are what makes them fight for this cause. The future of the Reader may very well depend on making sure that Dumke's replacement shares his passion to be thorough and fair about the subjects being covered and to be insistent at questioning the mayor and other public officials about their policies and public explanations.
"I think the odds of CNC's failure is at least five times larger than the odds of the Reader needing to fold anytime soon."
Once again, IAC pulls a number out of his ass.
You'll all still be able to read Mick on CNC's website until one day that paywall that O'Shea promised goes up. But you never know, maybe someone or something will change his mind on that. In any event, their site is here: http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/
Shortly after Jim Warren went to the CNC, he published this ridiculous position statement on how voters shouldn't be concerned about political corruption in Illinois:
http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/putting-new…
Despite repeated requests, the CNC has never responded either to my criticism, or to my requests for a disclosure of their complaint policy, ombudsman, or anything similar. Until I see reason to believe otherwise, I am viewing the CNC as a place where journalistic integrity goes to die. Best of luck to Mick; I hope his integrity fares better than Warren's.
This is a disappointing development. For the past few months, the writing in the Reader has become suspiciously more stellar: relevant, pithy, essential. During that same period, the CNC has become increasingly irrelevant, belabored, trivial.
Well, the deal is done. Hopefully, Dumke can inject something positive into CNC's mentality. It seems like a mentality over there that is trying to revive some "good old days" of journalism that were never objectively good. Maybe there is a part of this city out there that still needs depictions of African Americans as criminals or victims and Latinos as the hard scrabble lower-class biding their time until they are eventually deported.
The Tribune has shifted its perspective to "how the suburbs view the city." The glory days CNC is reviving are just those days when the Tribune's view was "how the North Side and the suburbs view the city." CNC is banking on this as a perspective that can still make money. It was never a perspective that achieved more than minor relevance.
The Reader had assembled a staff of differing views but equal talents that brought this city into sharp focus. The CNC has assembled a staff of similar views but varying talents that has obscured this city behind social presuppositions.
Dumke said he will be with "friends," hopefully that's not really what is important. It is hard to imagine even vignettes like last month's "My Latest Glimpse Into the Chicago Economy" being published by CNC.
And because it bears repetition, CNC has basic structural biases that I really am praying Dumke can overcome.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-black…
I'll admit it, I'm a hater.
Mick Dumke fuck'n RULES!
The CNC...not so much.
And, whomever the Original IAC is, you are so absolutely spot on, I thought I was reading my own words.
Every media person I talk to can't see how the CNC survives past 2011. It seems like a model for failure to me.
Dumke's gun control piece WAS excellent. That Wal-Mart coverage was a pungent hyper-biased turd of an article that had been sitting in the sun for about two days. What's the point of even having an editor on staff. WTF?
Seriously, besides Dumke and Jorvasky, are there any true journalists over at the Reader?
Feel free to e-mail me and I can give your writers a refresher course in Journalism 101. Buy me a pizza and I'll come right down.
But I digress.
Let's hope Dumke keeps kicking ass and somehow, impossibly, the CNC beats the odds and actually survives more than 12 months.
"And, whomever the Original IAC is, you are so absolutely spot on, I thought I was reading my own words."
Megadittos, Rush!
I'll really miss Dumke's writing. And thinking about that video of him debating Bernie Stone on the parking meter lease always makes me smile.
After reading Mr. Miner's story in somewhat of a shock induced daze about Mick Dumke's departure last week, I re-read the story.
Let me get this straight.
A top dude from the CNC sat on the board of Creative Loafing to help oversee the Reader, while an underling of said CNC top dude actively pursued Dumke?
Is that correct?
It sounds like somewhat of an inside job to me.
Man, I love it when journalists brag about journalistic integrity and the importance of ethics, and then things like this happen.
I guess these old fashioned concepts just get blown out the door in this enlightened age of media self-destruction.
If I weren't gagging on the smell of the rotting corpse of local journalism, I'd be laughing my ass off right now.
Now, if we can find a real journalist to cover THIS story, I'll be really surprised.
Crack conservative journalism.
http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2010/0…
July 20, 2010 - I called Mick Dumke this morning just to say hello, and he shocked me.
"Today is my last day at the Reader," he said. I just about fell over. I didn't know.
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